DURBAN - CONCERNS have been raised about the draft health regulations published by Health Minister Joe Phaahla that are set to govern how the country manages the Covid-19 pandemic going forward.
On Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the end of the state of disaster.
He said the pandemic would be managed in terms of the National Health Act, and that the draft health regulations had been published for public comment until April 15.
In a letter to Phaahla, the DA’s spokesperson on health, Michéle Clarke, wrote: “These regulations will ultimately force South Africans to have compulsory medical examinations, tests and treatment for certain Notifiable Medical Conditions (“NMC”) in the event they test positive, or merely are suspected of testing positive, for an NMC (which would include Covid-19).”
Clarke added that it appeared that under certain conditions, people would be forced to get vaccinated.
Michael Swain, the executive director of Freedom of Religion South Africa (Forsa), said the organisation had asked the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL) to intervene regarding the regulations.
Swain said the regulations violated religious freedom rights.
He added that the regulations further allowed for the possibility of compelled “treatment”, which was undefined and could include compulsory vaccination.
Professor Saloshni Naidoo, head of Public Health Medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said that the regulations were an amendment to the regulations relating to the surveillance and the control of notifiable medical conditions, which were published in 2017.
“The amendment serves to cover several other aspects that include refusal of medical testing, isolation and quarantine, general measures to control droplet and aerosol spread, travel, control measures for gatherings and funerals.
“It also provides for the establishment of a national database for contact tracing.
“It is important to have surveillance and monitoring of notifiable medical conditions for implementation of appropriate preventive measures. It is also important to have preventive measures implemented to avoid disease outbreaks in future.”
In a briefing yesterday, Phaahla said that while Covid-19 infection rates had declined, the pandemic still remained a threat, and he encouraged people to remain vigilant.
He also emphasised that the regulations were not new.
“It is amending the regulations for control of notifiable medical conditions.
“All that we’ve done now is publish amendments.
“These are existing laws and existing provisions under the National Health Act,” Phaahla said.
He assured that the public comments would be taken into account when drafting the final regulations.
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